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Mission Statement and Learning Outcomes
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Mark T. Rimple Room 331, Swope Music Building Our school of music continues to grow and evolve, and I am proud to be a member of such a wonderful artistic community. This year I have many performing and scholarly projects on my plate, but one of them occurs within the walls our own building: a new theory textbook. Co-authoring a new textbook with my colleague Dr. Rozin has allowed me to focus more than ever on the connections between theory, aural skills, performance, and composition. Our new approach has allowed us to expand the styles of music studied in music theory classes significantly. A first-year music student will analyze and discuss composers as diverse as Bach, Mozart and Brahms, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Hildegard of Bingen, and Guillaume Dufay! I hope that as we continue our work that students will find the commonalities and differences between such diverse styles and composers to be stimulating. Aldready, I have had students come to me asking where I found a particular recording, asking for more, or offering to share their favorite music that relates to class. I look forward to hearing from students about their experiences in these new classes - both the pros and cons - and am glad to have the opportunity to work on something so innovative here at home. I have three primary goals here at WCU: 1) to develop a student’s theoretical/aural skills to a level of professional fluency; 2) to encourage critical thinking and a thirst for musical knowledge, and 3) to expose students to wide variety of music that has the potential to change their musical, historical, and cultural perspectives. Fluency in music theory is an absolute requirement for any musician, whether they are teaching in an elementary classroom or composing film music. Fluency is not only the ability to understand basic theoretical concepts and materials, but the ability to use them efficiently without hesitation. Critical thinking is a life skill that allows artists to thrive in our ever-changing society. A student who is flexible in their musical thinking will be more able to adapt to new experiences in the course of their careers. Along the way to both goals, I expose the students to a wide variety of musical styles and pieces that will confront them with challenging musical problems. I endeavor not to simply lecture, but to work with students to allow them to discover the concept or idea that I am presenting – to this end, I strive for a Socratic classroom based on dialogue between students and between the students and myself. Education Mark Rimple is accomplished in the areas of performance, composition, and music theory. He has performed and composed works for nationally recognized ensembles in major venues and has published and presented papers on the history of music theory and composition. . Performance: Mark is a founding member of Trefoil, a New York based, vocal-instrumental trio devoted to the performance of fourteenth century music. With Trefoil, Mark has appeared on Sirius Sattelite Radio, on NPR (Vermont Public Radio; the syndicated early music program Harmonia), and given frequent concerts at a wide variety of venues including the Cloisters Museum, Trinity Church Wall Street, The Museum Series of Providence, RI, Vassar College, Temple University, Boston College, and many others. They have appeared as guest artists at major early music festivals and academic conferences including The International Congress of Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, the Washington Early Music Festival and the Amherst Early Music Festival. The trio has appeared jointly with The Newberry Consort (in Chicago), The Folger Consort (at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC.), and Piffaro, the Renaissance Band (in Philadelphia). Dr. Rimple appears on two Trefoil recordings: “Monsters, Mazes, and Masters: Treading the Medieval Labyrinth” (MSR 1095), and “Cristo è Nato: Lauding the Nativity in Medieval Italy” (MSR 1094). In the coming year, Trefoil will appear at Franklin & Marshall college, the New York Times Center (Early Music, Early Season Series), Vassar College, and the Connecticut Early Music Festival. Mark has appeared as a guest artist with a number of the nation’s top early music ensembles, including The Newberry Consort in Chicago, with whom he appears on a critically acclaimed recording of late medieval music entitled “Puzzles and Perfect Beauty” (Noyse Productions). His performances as a lutenist and coutnertenor with the group have been singled out in concert and CD reviews (including Early Music, the Chicago Tribune, Early Music America Magazine) He has also appeared frequently as lutenist and countertenor with the Folger Consort. He can be heard on recordings with New York’s Ensemble for Early Music (on Ex Cathedra Records). He has also appeared with The King’s Noyse, The New York Collegium, Tempesta di Mare, Ex Umbris, and Pomerium, and has accompanied and performed with Drew Minter, Julianne Baird, Jennifer Lane, and Ellen Hargis. In addition to his duties in the Department of Music Theory and Composition, Mark is also the director of the Collegium Musicum, where he shares his enthusiasm, experience and passion for early music with West Chester University students. This ensemble performs music of the later Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods vocally and on period instruments; he has led the group in recent performances of the music of Josquin des Prez and his contemporaries, a concert centered around Don Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Monteverdi, and a concert of music centered on the fourteenth century poet-composer Guillaume de Machaut. In 2007-8, the ensemble explores the Flemish style from Dufay to Senfl in the fall, and will tackle the music of Shakespeare's time in the spring. As an interpreter of contemporary music, he has appeared as a countertenor, lutenist, guitarist and mandolinist with various orchestras and new music ensembles including Network for New Music, the Curtis Orchestra, The Cygnus Ensemble (NYC), The West Chester New Music Ensemble, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. He appears on the recording of Jonathan Dawe’s “Siren” for countertenor, guitar, and viola with the Cygnus Ensemble Composition: Dr. Rimple’s compositions have been performed in a variety of venues, from top new music ensembles including Parnassus, Network for New Music, The ISCM Chamber Players (at Carnegie Hall), and the Temple University Faculty Trio, to off-off Broadway (Muse of Fire Productions in New York City where his works were called "delightful" by nytheatremusic.com) and in local churches (he was a staff composer at Old St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia from 1999-2002). Last year, “The Solemn Waits” for trumpet and horn, was performed by WCU faculty J.C. Dobreweski and Elizabeth Pfaffle. In 2007-8, he will write four new works, including a duet for Clarinet and English Horn to be premiered by Drs. Grabb and Danessa at a summer festival, a chamber work for Melomanie, an ensemble devoted to the performance of ealry and new music (including Dr. Kimberly Reighly), a trio for horn, cello, and harp (for Elizabeth Pfaffle, Ovidiu Marinescu, and Gloria Galante) and a trio for flugel horn, violin, and piano for Dr. Dobrzewski. In addition, The West Chester Faculty New Music Trio (Gregory Riley, Peter Paulsen, and Chris Hanning) will premiere his “Bluestrophes” on their 2008 Valentine’s Day concert. Music Theory/Publishing: Currently, Dr. Rimple and Dr. Rozin are writing a music theory textbook which is stylistically netural and focused on perception. Dr. Rimple's academic research has been focused in the field of medieval and renaissance theory and notation. Lately his interest has been focused on the influence of ancient Greek and Roman theories of interval and consonance in the Medieval period. While on sabbatical leave last spring, he wrote an article entitled "Hidden Symphonies: Boethian Harmony in the Middle Ages and 20th Century" for inclusion in A Companion to Boethius in the Middle Ages (Brill Academic Publishers, forthcoming, 2008/9). An article on the Humanist influence on Renaissance Italian theorists and composers entitled “Echoes of Boethius in the Cincquecento” is forthcoming in Carmina Philosophiae: The Journal of the International Boethius Society. His “Rhetoric, Discant, and the Faenza Codex: An Introduction to the Plectrum Lute” appeared in the May, 2004 issue of the Lute Society of America Quarterly. His article "Boethius and the Mensural Experimentation of the Ars Subtilior" appeared in Carmina Philosophiae, vol. 12 (2003). He has also been involved as peer reviewer for this journal. He has also presented several papers on medieval music theory and notation at the annual International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI. Special Teaching: In the summer of 2005, Mark was one of three SOM faculty to travel to Oxford with the “English Music and Culture” course, where he taught and performed a recital of English Renaissance lute songs with his wife, Julie Ferris, a frequent collaborator. He teaches an advanced theory Seminar: "Medieval Music Theory and Practice" that focuses on the theory, analysis, and performance of fourteenth century music from original notation, and has also presented seminars on song composition & Analysis, and advanced ear-training. He has been a popular faculty member at a number of national early music festivals and workshops.
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